Arts & Entertainment
Queery: Walter Lundy
The toy drive organizer answers 20 gay questions

Walter Lundy says handing out donated toys to needy Washington-area kids has become the Christmas-related activity he most looks forward to.
It started modestly last year with what he calls his “Red-Themed Toy Drive Party.” He hosted last year’s event out of his Bloomingdale home. Guests wore red and brought gifts to his house the weekend before Christmas. On Christmas Eve, he and a group of friends delivered about 100 toys to about 40 children in seven or so families.
This year, the Dec. 22 party, which Lundy held at Halstead Tower in Alexandria, yielded about 250 guests/toys that were delivered to about 100 kids in 10 local families and a local group home. Lundy worked with the D.C. Department of Human Services and its “Strong Families” program, the Greater Urban League of Washington, the Hubbard Place and the Williams Life Center of Greenbelt, Md., to identify needy families.
“It’s a very gratifying experience and it’s become the complete focus of my holiday experience,” the Petersburg, Va., native says. “I feel like this is the proper way to end the calendar year for me and I intend to do it every year.”
Lundy hosted the event with his friend JoVone Pender. They paid for the party themselves and Lundy says it’s an important component of the event.
“I guess I’m just a party type-of guy,” he says. “I love the toy part of it, of course, but it’s also rewarding to give something to the community as well. We deserve it.”
Though not a gay-specific event, Lundy guesses “about 90 percent” of the friends who help him deliver the gifts are also black gay men, not all of whom are out. He says they’re just friends he knows “from all over — just guys I know in the same-gender-loving male community.”
Lundy works for the D.C. government but declines to give specifics. He’s also in a relationship but says, “We’ll just leave it at that.”
Lundy lived in Ohio for much of the ‘90s, but settled in Washington in 2003. He lives in Bloomingdale in the fifth Ward and enjoys tennis, NASCAR, exercising, writing, cooking and socializing in his free time.
How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?
Not fully out but I guess I am now. But my family has known for about 14 years and my mother was the most difficult person to tell.
Who’s your LGBT hero?
Don’t really have a hero, but I admire all professional and college athletes who come out.
What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present?
The Park at 14th — great food, amazing drinks and awesome people. I love that place — it’s a place where everyone can go to have a great time.
Describe your dream wedding.
Going to the Caribbean with a small group of friends and family and getting married on the beach, walking in the sand with the blessing of the powerful waves in the background.
What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?
Getting Hillary Clinton elected president in 2016.
What historical outcome would you change?
I would erase the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The Haitian government reported that an estimated 316,000 people died, 300,000 had been injured and 1 million made homeless. The greatest catastrophe of my life time. I break down and cry every time I think about it.
What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime?
How appropriate — I remember when I first when to New York and partied in Times Square for News Year’s Eve. Something that I had always seen on TV as a child, I was now finally experiencing live as an adult and it was the most amazing and electrifying experience. It’s an American tradition that everyone should do at least once.
On what do you insist?
I insist that people in my circle of friends treat all people the same regardless of their education or social economic status.
What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?
I don’t Tweet but I did post a link to a gospel sermon by Bishop Noel Jones talking about how “God Grows You” and that one has to have an enormous challenge in order to have an enormous outcome. I thought this was a powerful word heading into the new year.
If your life were a book, what would the title be?
“Shattered Dreams”
If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?
I wouldn’t take advantage of the discovery because I am finally happy with myself, but I would certainly understand and respect those who took advantage of the science.
What do you believe in beyond the physical world?
I believe in God and that there is a heaven. I also believes that the universe is a powerful force that influences our physical presence. I know it sounds silly but I believe that the universe is a surrogate power of God and has his blessings to influence our physical lives. I have so much respect and admiration for the power of the universe.
What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?
Educate the youth and teach them about life and being independent and responsible. The value of an education, a career and life goals — we get so caught up in trying to affirm them that we forget to hold them accountable to being successful and independent human beings. We can’t baby them — we have to demand excellence and high standards.
What would you walk across hot coals for?
To save the life of my baby sister.
What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?
Some of the most educated, family oriented, financially stable men in our community are GBT, especially in the black community, yet we are often not viewed as real men when we are usually the backbone to a fragmented and unstable family structure. We endure and take on so much emotional hardship that it’s amazing that more of us are not suicidal.
What’s your favorite LGBT movie?
“The 24th Day”
What’s the most overrated social custom?
Celebrating birthdays. Eight years ago I had unexpected life-threatening heart surgery and I now have a strong appreciation for life every single day. So for me, every day is a day to celebrate.
What trophy or prize do you most covet?
I covet the acceptance of my Lord and Savior into his Kingdom.
What do you wish you’d known at 18?
I wish I had known my parents were going to die at a young age. I would have spent more time fostering a more meaningful and lasting adult relationship that I can forever cherish. I was so busy on my education and career grind that I lost track of time. I now regret that choice.
Why Washington?
I am from Virginia and need to be close to my siblings as I am their primary caregiver and provider.
Television
ICYMI: ‘Overcompensating’ a surprisingly sweet queer treat
A sweet, savvy show about breaking free to embrace your true self

Pride month 2025 is now behind us, and while it’s safe to say that this year’s celebrations had a darker edge than usual, it’s also true that they came with a particularly rich bounty of new queer movies and shows to entertain us – so many, in fact, that even if we are facing a lull until the fall another harvest of fresh content, there are still plenty of titles – which, for whatever reason, were off your radar – for you to catch up on in the meantime.
One of the most notable of these – the bingeworthy series “Overcompensating” (now streaming on Amazon Prime) – will most definitely have been ON the radar for the plentiful fans of creator and star Benito Skinner, the actor/comedian who rose to viral fame through his content on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok. For anyone else, it might have easily slipped through the cracks.
Created and written by Skinner as a loosely autobiographical “college comedy,” it aims for the kind of raucous, explicitly sexed-up tone one expects from the genre as it centers on Benny (Skinner), newly arrived as a freshman at prestigious Yates University. A former football jock and “golden boy” at his midwestern high school, he’s the picture of idealized youthful masculinity; he’s also deep in the closet, struggling to keep his sexuality hidden and maintain his macho front under the intense scrutiny of the college’s social scene – and under the resentful eye of his older sister Grace (Mary Beth Barone), who has already secured her own place at the top of the pecking order.
In the first episode, Benny’s difficulties are eased when he meets Carmen (Wally Baram), another freshman trying to navigate the politics of college life; a gamer from a home marred by tragedy, she’s an outsider who feels like she’s putting on an act, too, and they click – giving him the convenient “cover” of female companionship while providing them both with much-needed support and encouragement. He’s also befriended by a handsome film major from England (Rish Shah), who has already caught his eye, stirring other kinds of feelings and possibly even reciprocating them. Meanwhile, he’s being courted by the school’s “exclusive secret society” – headed by his sister’s aggressively “alpha” boyfriend Pete (Adam DiMarco) – and trying to stay interested in his studies, despite a growing realization that a career in business doesn’t actually appeal to him all that much.
That’s a lot to juggle for anybody, even an overachiever like Benny – whose “lucky” life so far has largely been the result of playing a role he is finding harder and harder to maintain. As the series goes on through its eight-episode arc, it becomes clear that he’s not the only one who is “keeping up appearances,” and he, along with the other confused and damaged young people in his orbit, begins the painful (but often hilarious) process of evolution that is required in order to become truly oneself.
Directed toward appealing to a younger demographic, “Overcompensating” is the kind of show that requires a few episodes worth of invested time to make an impression that feels like substance. Full of the bawdy farcical antics that go hand in hand with stories about hormonally charged college kids, it’s not above leaning into the formulas and tropes that have always driven these kinds of comedies. At first, while its broadly comedic strokes and frequently explicit sexual hijinks might elicit plenty of chuckles, the show might easily feel tiresome for more mature audiences; there’s a nostalgic fun to it, made even more appealing, somehow, by the “political incorrectness” of its frequently sexist and homophobic humor, but for a while things may feel like an unnecessary attempt to reinvent “Animal House” for the Gen Z crowd.
By the time the season reaches its halfway point, however, things have started to get real. The antics of these horny almost-adults take on a more pointed absurdity, informed by the increasingly tangled web of defensive deceit they weave among themselves – and, as things draw toward a cliffhanger climax, the consequences of maintaining it – until it achieves a sense of empathy toward them all. There’s a wisdom that smacks of lived authenticity underlying the whole affair, transforming it from the “sexploitative” teen comedy of its surface into something deeper. To be sure, things stay expectedly wacky, and the soap-operatic melodrama of its twists and reversals continue to maintain the show’s “mature YA” appeal; but beneath those trappings, by the end of the season a truer identity has begun to emerge, just as its characters have begun to find their own levels of self-actualization for themselves.
As creator, primary writer, and star, it’s obviously Skinner who deserves much of the credit. While it might be tempting, early on, to dismiss the show as an “ego project,” the internet-spawned sensation proves his talents quickly enough to get past such judgy suspicions, delivering a pitch-perfect blend of sauciness and sensitivity that extends its appeal toward both ends of the taste spectrum; just as crucially, he brings the same aforementioned “lived authenticity” to his winning performance – after all, he’s essentially playing himself in a fictionalized version of his own life – while also making sure that equal time (and compassion) is afforded all the other characters around him, each of whom are pushing at the boundaries of their own respective “closets,” too. It’s unavoidable to notice that – like most of his co-stars – he’s plainly a decade too old to be playing a college student; but by the time we reach that crucial halfway turning point, we’ve become too engaged by him to care.
The show is full of excellent performances, in fact. Relative newcomers Baram and Barone offer layers of complex nuance, while the more familiar DiMarco (“White Lotus”) is close to heartbreaking as the toxic BMOC clinging to the illusion of power as his life begins unraveling around him. Other standouts include the mononymic actress Holmes as Carmen’s “wild child” roommate, solidly likable turns as Benny’s parents from mature veterans Connie Britten and Kyle MacLachlan (whose presence, along with stylish elements in several key scenes, hints at an homage-ish nod to the late David Lynch), and podcaster Owen Thiele as an openly gay fellow student who has Benny “clocked” from the moment they meet. Finally, Lukas Gage makes a deep impression as a former high school teammate at the heart of Benny’s most haunting memory.
There’s no official word yet on whether “Overcompensating” will be renewed for a second season, despite the multiple loose ends left dangling at the end of its first; it has proven to be popular, and Skinner’s large fanbase makes it likely that the story will continue. Even if it doesn’t, the place of uncertainty in which it has left its characters rings true enough to serve as a satisfying endpoint.
As for us, we hope that won’t happen. For all its sophomoric humor, generic plot twists, and purposefully gratuitous sexual titillation, it’s one of the sweetest, kindest, and most savvy shows we’ve seen about breaking free from conformity to embrace your true self – and that’s a message that applies whether you’re queer, straight, or anywhere in between.
Photos
PHOTOS: Independence Day Weekend in Rehoboth
Wicked Green Pool Party, fireworks among festivities

Vacationers and residents alike enjoyed Independence Day Weekend activities in Rehoboth Beach, Del. The Wicked Green Pool Party drew hundreds to the CAMP Rehoboth fundraiser on Saturday. That evening, revelers went to the rooftops to watch the fireworks display.
(Washington Blade photos by Daniel Truitt)













Music & Concerts
Red, White, and Beyoncé: Queen Bey takes Cowboy Carter to D.C. for the Fourth of July
The legendary music icon performed on July 4 and 7 to a nearly sold-out Northwest Stadium.

Just in time for Independence Day, Beyoncé lit up Landover’s Commanders Field (formerly FedEx Field) with fireworks and fiery patriotism, bringing her deeply moving and genre-defying “Cowboy Carter” tour to the Washington, D.C. area.
The tour, which takes the global icon across nine cities in support of her chart-topping and Grammy-winning country album “Cowboy Carter,” landed in Prince George’s County, Maryland, over the Fourth of July weekend. From the moment Beyoncé stepped on stage, it was clear this was more than just a concert — it was a reclamation.
Drawing from classic Americana, sharp political commentary, and a reimagined vision of country music, the show served as a powerful reminder of how Black Americans — especially Black women — have long been overlooked in spaces they helped create. “Cowboy Carter” released in March 2024, is the second act in Beyoncé’s genre-traversing trilogy. With it, she became the first Black woman to win a Grammy for Best Country Album and also took home the coveted Album of the Year.
The record examines the Black American experience through the lens of country music, grappling with the tension between the mythology of the American Dream and the lived realities of those historically excluded from it. That theme comes alive in the show’s opening number, “American Requiem,” where Beyoncé sings:
“Said I wouldn’t saddle up, but
If that ain’t country, tell me, what is?
Plant my bare feet on solid ground for years
They don’t, don’t know how hard I had to fight for this
When I sing my song…”
Throughout the performance, Beyoncé incorporated arresting visuals: Black cowboys on horseback, vintage American iconography, and Fox News clips criticizing her genre shift — all woven together with voiceovers from country legends like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson. The result was a multimedia masterclass in storytelling and subversion.
The “Cowboy Carter” tour has been a social media sensation for weeks, with fans scrambling for tickets, curating elaborate “cowboy couture” outfits, and tailgating under the summer sun. At Commanders Field, thousands waited in long lines for exclusive merch and even longer ones to enter the stadium — a pilgrimage that, for many, felt more like attending church than a concert.
One group out in full force for the concert was Black queer men — some rocking “denim on denim on denim on denim,” while others opted for more polished Cowboy Couture looks. The celebration of Black identity within Americana was ever-present, making the concert feel like the world’s biggest gay country-western club.
A standout moment of the night was the appearance of Beyoncé’s 13-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. Commanding the stage with poise and power, she matched the intensity and choreography of her mother and the professional dancers — a remarkable feat for someone her age and a clear sign that the Carter legacy continues to shine.
It’s been nearly two decades since Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child parted ways, and since then, she’s more than lived up to her title as the voice of a generation. With “Cowboy Carter,” she’s not just making music — she’s rewriting history and reclaiming the space Black artists have always deserved in the country canon.
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